Monte Carlo Rally to open 2011 IRC season

The 79th Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo will form the opening round of next year’s Intercontinental Rally Challenge, organiser the Automobile Club de Monaco has confirmed.

Scheduled to run from Wednesday 19 January to Saturday 23 January, 2011, the event will mark 100 years since the first Monte Carlo Rally took place on 21 January 1911.

Full details of the route and several key features of the event, including live television coverage, will be announced later in the year but the ACM has confirmed the rally route will include 324 competitive kilometres over 13 stages.

The opening day’s action will centre on the roads in the department of Ardèche with day two’s competition taking place in the Drôme region. The final day will cover the mountain roads overlooking Monaco and Nice.

Amateur drivers will be encouraged to take part and René Isoart, the ACM General Commissioner, said: “They have been instrumental in some of the most wonderful episodes of the history of the Monte Carlo Rally. With their involvement, the rally was able to develop and span a whole century of automobile sport with great success. And so we would like the rally centenary to reflect this spirit.”

The 2011 IRC calendar will be announced in the autumn.